Poor management skills, no understanding of what it takes to put on an event of that size, and the inability to hear "No" from subordinates. It sounded like he and his group were trying to make it work, but he wasn't able to deliver anything NEAR what he'd promised, and he didn't realize this until the very end. Almost like he thought that just another round of funding would set everything straight and it would work out, but he was deluding himself, and in the process was way overpromising what he could deliver.

Was it fraud? In the end, yes, but I don't think it started out with that intention. The musical acts were not cancelled until the day before (though some had pulled out a few days before that).